6 Things You Need To Know Today – July 17, 2013

Nurses Lament State Of Jamaica’s Maternal Health. Victoria Melhado, the Nurses’ Association of Jamaica (NAJ)/Lasco Nurse of the Year, is lamenting that Jamaica continues to lag behind in addressing maternal health concerns, including an unacceptably high child mortality rate, based on international reports… Read more at Jamaica-Gleaner.com

Smoking Ban Threatens Freedom – Opposition. South West St Catherine Member of Parliament Everald Warmington yesterday castigated Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson for poor judgement in not tabling in Parliament the regulations which impose a ban on smoking in public spaces… Read more at Jamaica-Gleaner.com

Spanish Town Community Group Aims To Cash In On Apps. It is estimated that more than 1.2 billion people are using mobile-phone applications (apps) worldwide, and with market researchers indicating that 56 billion smartphone apps have already been downloaded since the start of the year, it is no doubt that the creation of these apps is now a lucrative international business… Read more at Jamaica-Gleaner.com

Test High-School Athletes – Portia. Hundreds of students who participate in the annual Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships could, in future, be subject to drug tests from the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO)… Read more at Jamaica-Gleaner.com

JN Crowdfunding Platform Goes Live In August. JN Small Business Loans Ltd’s crowdfunding platform, ISupportJamaica.com, plans to start distributing loans to business start-ups at the end of August… Read more at Jamaica-Gleaner.com

Blake Out Of World Champs. A nagging hamstring injury has forced defending World 100 metres cham-pion Yohan Blake to withdraw from the August 10-18 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia… Read more at Jamaica-Gleaner.com